The regular season has begun.... Malibu will officially have 400 kids here for the next 11 weeks! I can already tell that this summer is going to be a great one. Our first session of work crew and summer staff on the ODC are already great. We have some really strong guys which makes our boat days of moving over 30,000 lbs of freight a breeze.
As the first week has ended and all the other interns have finally arrived, it is finally feeling like the summer camping season. Before the season began I was chosen to take a role in a traditional Young Life drama called Broken Heart. The role I was asked to do was Satan. I was excited to be a part of such a impacting part of camp but was unsure of how I would enjoy being the villain. The first week of the drama nerves were racing as the whole cast prepared. As we all bathed it in prayer and told God that it was His thing not ours, He gave me a peace in my heart. As the drama went on, the Lord blessed it. It went so well and the impact on the campers was evident as many stayed afterwords as their leaders comforted them with tears.
The aftermath of playing the role of Satan is interesting. For the last two days of every week at camp I will be recognized by all the kids as Satan. Kids would say "Hi Satan!" as I would walk by them in camp. It is kind of a crappy name to be called.
I just recently started reading a book called Forgotten God by Francis Chan. In this book Chan focusses on the Holy Spirit and how it is a God that we have forgotten within the Trinity. This book has been very influential in my times here at Malibu already. I have really tried to focus more on being more in touch with the Holy Spirit inside me. I think the Holy Spirit is one of the main reasons why I have made a couple of drastic decisions lately.
One of the most profound things that I have learned so far from this book is how forgotten the Holy Spirit is. Jesus gave His disciples the ultimate reassurance; Another Comforter would come. Jesus said that the Father would give the disciples "another Counselor to be with (them) forever" (14:16 NIV). In this case, the Greek word another means another that is just like the first(as opposed to another that is of a different sort or kind). So Jesus was saying that the One who would come would be just like Him!
What an amazingly comforting verse. Even now we seem to prefer to have a physical God when we have the same God dwelling within us. The power of the Holy Spirit is hard to understand but amazing to start to see glimpses of.
We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. -1 Thessalonians 2:8
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Heavy Load
Sometimes God gives us challenges that we really don't know how to face. Generally when it seems like a task to big for oneself you look for different alternatives then what God has to offer. Instead of asking Him how to face the challenge He has presented, you run and hide. But running and hiding is the worst thing to do and the challenge that you thought once to be daunting just got bigger and harder to solve.
If we present our problems directly to God when they happen things become much easier to cope with. “He himself shall dwell in prosperity . . .” (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). The previous sentence is something that I read in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. It rings true in my heart right now. While here at Malibu, dwelling in prosperity seems much easier than back in the real world. Maybe it is due to the feel of this place. Some call it a thin place, meaning its a step between heaven and earth. It feels that way to mean. Life at times seems so much more clearer while I am here. Life is more at Peace.
So as these worries, tribulations and challenges come our way we need to turn and present them to the Lord. "Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, with prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God. By the Peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your heard and your mind in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7. Let us present our request to God with everything that is on our hearts. For as we walk with Him, He will guard and guide us in the ways of righteousness.
One of the ODC's challenges for work today consisted of moving an 11 ton generator. For those of you who don't know what 11 tons are.. that's 22,000 pounds of machinery. Well this problem was one where if I faced it alone.. I would have no idea how to solve it. You see, we weren't moving this 22,000 pounds with a tractor or lift. We were doing this with our hands, chains, jacks, wood, straps, pulleys, I-hooks, and metal bars. The first step which I wasn't there for and probably took the most time was raising the generator 3 feet in the air. Oh one minor detail if the generator fell backwards away from where we were moving it to, it would fall into the ocean. So slowly and carefully Gil(single handedly for the most part) raised the generator up 3 feet. This step took about a week or two since Gil didn't really focus on it all at once.
The second step to moving the generator happened today. As an ODC which consisted of me, Bruce, James and Gil we managed to move the generator a total of 15 feet and turned it 90 degrees. So to perform this ridiculous human feat we used wood to make skids for the generator to "glide" down. Then we used come-along pullies that were chained up to the generator to pull the thing the distance we needed. We used metal bars and placed them under the generator (with jacks) to help with the gliding the beastly thing. As we pulled from different I-hooks with pulleys and there you have it, 11 ton generator moved. I will soon have pictures hopefully. We also took a time lapse of the process which I hope to have up here at some point.
May God guide our lives constantly.. not just in the heat of battle.
If we present our problems directly to God when they happen things become much easier to cope with. “He himself shall dwell in prosperity . . .” (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). The previous sentence is something that I read in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. It rings true in my heart right now. While here at Malibu, dwelling in prosperity seems much easier than back in the real world. Maybe it is due to the feel of this place. Some call it a thin place, meaning its a step between heaven and earth. It feels that way to mean. Life at times seems so much more clearer while I am here. Life is more at Peace.
So as these worries, tribulations and challenges come our way we need to turn and present them to the Lord. "Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, with prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God. By the Peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your heard and your mind in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7. Let us present our request to God with everything that is on our hearts. For as we walk with Him, He will guard and guide us in the ways of righteousness.
One of the ODC's challenges for work today consisted of moving an 11 ton generator. For those of you who don't know what 11 tons are.. that's 22,000 pounds of machinery. Well this problem was one where if I faced it alone.. I would have no idea how to solve it. You see, we weren't moving this 22,000 pounds with a tractor or lift. We were doing this with our hands, chains, jacks, wood, straps, pulleys, I-hooks, and metal bars. The first step which I wasn't there for and probably took the most time was raising the generator 3 feet in the air. Oh one minor detail if the generator fell backwards away from where we were moving it to, it would fall into the ocean. So slowly and carefully Gil(single handedly for the most part) raised the generator up 3 feet. This step took about a week or two since Gil didn't really focus on it all at once.
The second step to moving the generator happened today. As an ODC which consisted of me, Bruce, James and Gil we managed to move the generator a total of 15 feet and turned it 90 degrees. So to perform this ridiculous human feat we used wood to make skids for the generator to "glide" down. Then we used come-along pullies that were chained up to the generator to pull the thing the distance we needed. We used metal bars and placed them under the generator (with jacks) to help with the gliding the beastly thing. As we pulled from different I-hooks with pulleys and there you have it, 11 ton generator moved. I will soon have pictures hopefully. We also took a time lapse of the process which I hope to have up here at some point.
May God guide our lives constantly.. not just in the heat of battle.
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